Where Next?

Stargazer forges north as the sun rises. We weighed anchor, in the still of the pre-dawn twilight, to catch our tide.

Our, long anticipated, summer cruise is under way.

Out across the open expanse of  the Thames Estuary we sail; weaving our serpentine way through the spit ways between its hidden sand banks.The low Essex and Suffolk shores are a smudge on the horizon to port.

Ahead, the cranes of Felixstowe peep over the tower topped shoulder of Walton's Naze. A confetti of dolls house beach huts adorn the shoreline at the tower's foot.

We harden sheets and beat in towards the River Orwell. Scenting our way in down the Medusa Channel. Depth is marginal, but we have a rising tide. Stargazer casts to port and starboard feeling her way in. A 23 knot squall heels us, reducing our draft. 

We romp into the shelter of the the toy town Harwich foreshore....

.....and glide up this sylvian river on the current.

We anchor in the timeless tranquility of Pin Mill. I linger a day, listening to the musical chatter of the birds from the trees, and the silvery song of the river water - to wonder where this cruise will lead us next.

Easter Joy

The promise of the forecast is delivered. Stargazer leaves Ramsgate as the sunrise glints off the house windows and a north easterly force three obligingly fills in.

We short tack, beating close inshore, to stay out of the adverse tide. Clawing our way north for two miles. Seeking out an eddy off the rocky plateau of the Broadstairs Ledge. 

Stargazer rounds North Foreland at dead low water and turns west. Wind and tide are with us now.

I free the sheets. Above us, the cruising chute blossoms in the breeze. The blue of its chevrons matching the blue of the Easter Sunday sky.

The making tide and our wind bellied sails lift us effortlessly up the Kent shoreline. The wind slowly building as our sun drenched, day long, reach continues.

We gybe off Garrison Point, still carrying the tide and....

....sweep majestically home into the Medway. Stargazer's anchor rattles down in Godwit Bay. Truly a start of season sail to savour.

Deja Vu

Ramsgate lounges indolently beneath the china blue sky of an Easter heatwave.

Stargazer slipped free of her moorings on Thursday evening, carrying me clear of the cares of a working day. A thrill runs through me as her tiller comes alive in my hand - for the first time this year. She heels to the gentle breeze and is off down river. The silvery voice, of the wake running down her sides, singing softly.

A light mist blurs the horizon as we slip past Darnet Ness into the outer estuary, adding an air of mystery and promise.

We sound our way into the marshes to anchor for the night.

Back in our old haunts, the anchorage which I call 'Godwit Bay,' surrounded by the myriad calls of teeming wading birds, and the sigh of the wind. I cook supper whilst the sun goes down....

....and a full moon rises. 

Good Friday dawns bright. A beckoning force 4 ripples the anchorage. We catch the turn of the tide at Garrison Point.....

.....and beat down past the Reculver Towers to North Foreland,

The sun is sinking low as we nose into Ramsgate. The final couple of hours have been on our new engine. For once, I'm pleased to have run it. I wanted to give it a test, and get the running in under way, before our end of May cruise. Our batteries are fully charged on arrival - the alternator upgrade is working well.

Less welcome news emerges on Saturday morning. When I check the engine, the coolant level has dropped. We are still losing coolant, despite changing the engine in order to eradicate the problem. Once again, no sign of any leakage in the bilge. I pass a lazy day pondering the cause of the coolant loss and watching the boats come...

...and go.

Stargazer and her skipper share the hope of a reach back to the Medway to celebrate Easter Sunday. Both cruising chute and Easter eggs are at the ready. The forecast auspicious.

Muddy Waters

The flood begins to make on a dreamily still spring morning. A family of geese stir, as a tongue of water licks toward them across the salt marsh. They swim lazily among the sun warmed shoals. Beyond them, a yacht sounds cautiously out of the river. She hugs the witch-hatted markers, of the dredged channel, making for the mist shrouded form of the Isle of Wight. Seeking the security of deeper water.

To landward, a grid iron of mirror calm ditches drain the marsh. Each framed by a mantle of richly fragrant, chromium yellow, gorse bushes.Their heady scent hangs in the air, filling my lungs.

Further back, a russet red brick New Forest farm house stands on a slight rise. Boats are pulled up on the meadow, outside the five barred gate which guards its entrance.

I'm paying a visit to Discovery Yachts in Lymington. They now own the moulds for the shoal draft Southerly range. Discovery are applying the custom build approach, for which their larger Discovery ocean roaming yachts are famed, to the smaller Southerly range. Among the improvements on offer are a Solent, twin forestay, Rig (triple, if you count the gennaker) and a below decks helm position. Both are at the top of my wish list for the perfect passage making boat. The Solent Rig to provide a ready rigged, perfectly set foresail, whatever the wind strength. The sheltered helm position for those times, on overnight passages, when even the spell cast by the sparkle of myriad stars above, and the flash of phosphorescence below, cannot ward off the chill of the pre-dawn dew-fall.

The ability to reduce draft to 0.7 metres, by lifting the ballasted swing keel, would also open up cruising options, particularly in the muddy waters of my North Sea base. Timings for crossing the swatch ways would no longer be critical Passage Planning factors. New anchorages would open up.

The question is how much windward performance, particularly in a breeze, would be traded for that shoal draft flexibility; and whether that trade off would work for me.

Stargazer's ability to happily sail, on any point, in any wind strength between 8 and 28 knots is one of her great delights.

Memory Lane

Today a crisp south westerly force 6 rattles the palm fronds on Poole Quay.

Beyond the shelter of the sea wall, white horses cavort...

...jostling the fishing punts on their moorings.

The inner harbour lies tranquil and reflective.

A fisherman lolls contentedly at the helm, basking in the spring sunshine, heading homeward to Holes Bay after an early start. His work stained craft chugs past the immaculate ranks of, Star-Wars-storm-trooper black & white, Sunseekers marshalled outside the build sheds. A glorious embodiment of the notion that there are as many ways to enjoy being on the water as there are people on the earth.

I have come on a (road) trip down Memory Lane, to my former home town.

In the boot of the car is the alternator off Stargazer's new engine. The reason for my journey. During the week the Balmar alternator and serpentine pulley arrived at Merlin's workshop as planned. However, to be sure of fitting the two together to deliver exact belt alignment, their engineer wanted the alternator supplied by Yanmar to use as a template. I have brought it with me.

 That magic carefree moment, when we can cast off for our first sail of 2019 and blow the winter cobwebs away, is drawing tantalisingly nearer. 

Current Affairs

Down on the tow path, spring sunshine burns off the chill of an overnight fog.

Ghost ships study their reflections in the still river, as I walk toward the boatyard. Past Chatham's Historic Naval Dockyard, where Nelson's flagship Victory was built.

The veil of fog is abruptly torn aside. I pause to remove my woolly hat and down jacket as the temperature soars.  A coaster, detectable moments earlier only as a disembodied hum of invisible machinery, is revealed over on the wharf. Behind her, the spire of Rochester Cathedral lances the skyline.

Boats are jockeying for position, alongside the quay, when I arrive at the yard. It is now a sun kissed day which would not disgrace summer. Coffee is being brewed, knots of be-smocked sea folk chat on deck and the heady aroma of anti-fouling paint hangs in the still air.

I have spent the week finding out how to resolve the compatibility issue between Stargazer's new engine and her existing battery management system. Many phone calls have been made. I have become immersed in an arcane world of electrical 'current affairs.' A world with a language of its own: alternator power curves, amps, volts, serpentine pulleys, external regulation and more.

A 150 amp, high output, externally regulated Balmar alternator has been ordered. If all goes well, this will be fitted with a 64.8mm 6pk serpentine pulley before being shipped to me for the end of next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Paul the electrician, uncontactable due to a half term holiday this week, will be able to fit the new alternator on its arrival. It should just 'plug and play' with both engine and battery management system.That is what the theory says!

Today, though, Stargazer is ready for her annual polish and anti foul. A remarkable spell of February weather like this is not to be squandered.

Mission accomplished. Here's hoping that the electrical recommissioning works go as smoothly!

Valentine's Day

On a joyously sun filled Valentine's Day, I load a heavy wooden crate into the farm pick up.

Four days earlier Stargazer was craned out of the water under leaden skies. A lone sunbeam glinting off the glass of the dockside apartment block behind her. In a mechanical ballet, the crane gently lowered Stargazer into a cradle before swinging its boom clear; a tractor reversed in, with an hydraulic jacking trailer; Stargazer and cradle were whisked off to a waiting space.

Kevin, the engine mechanic, meets me down at the yard, screwdriver in hand. He sets to work dismantling the crate. Stargazer's gleaming new engine emerges into the spring sunshine, like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis.

Kevin has been working, for the past 6 months, trying to cure the original engine's thirst for coolant. This first emerged during last season's cruising. In the autumn, all the ancillary systems were stripped off and pressure tested. No leaks were found. However, once the engine was rebuilt, the coolant was still disappearing. The symptoms pointed to a fracture in the block or one of its internal galleries. The engine had reached the end of its life. Over Christmas, friends from Poole came to the rescue with the offer of a replacement engine at 'mate's rates.' Thanks Mike and Gary!

I fuss anxiously as Stargazer is manoeuvred back under the crane for the engines to be exchanged. Will the new face plate fit onto the saildrive? Will Stargazer's immaculate internal joinery be scratched by the lifts? The starter panel is an updated design - is there room for it in the cockpit alcove? I realise that I'm not contributing anything to proceedings, and am probably impeding progress. I return to the farm. Kevin calls 6 hours later to say that the engine is safely in and filled with fluids. Just the wiring to do.

Two days later, amid the turmoil of a saloon filled with the contents of the aft cabin and cockpit locker, our first snag emerges. Stargazer has a sophisticated  battery management system (Merlin 'SmartBank Advanced'). This allows battery charging at tick over revs and has served us well on extended 'off grid' cruises - the kind we love the most! However, there are problems linking the new alternator to the original system. Its time for me to get phoning and Googling to find the solution...